For rulers in Africa and elsewhere still reigning by edict or who stage-manage their re-elections looking to rule for life, this is the time to thank their gods and toast to the New Era of a world sans moral democratic leadership/guardianship.

And as dictators toast to this era of “everything goes” and “even the American political systems is rigged” and “we are all sinners” leading imperfect societies, human rights activists, including advocates of a free press, brace for rough times as a traditional ally joins non-believers.

This New Era will formally be ushered in on January 20 when America inaugurates Donald Trump as its 45th president, replacing Barack Obama.

So, why does Trump’s ascendance herald the end of his country’s assumed moral guardianship of democracy across the world?

America has since the end of World War II been a willing, uncontested, towering and overbearing tutor of democracy and human rights in the world; however selectively. When it spoke, leaders listened or were made to.

Taking US’s leadership serious wasn’t only based on the fear of that nation’s coercive power measured on the cost it could impose for non-compliance, but was also based on three related softer ingredients.

First, the perception that the country was based on noble ideals or values such as liberty or a free press and the corresponding ability of its leaders to not only articulate them but to also defend and seem to live them.

Second, the belief that American democratic institutions were incorruptible and electoral outcomes reflected the actual free will of Americans. As a result, third, America was somehow morally superior and could serve as an example to the rest of the world.

All these softer sources of power that gave America’s leaders confidence to lecture “lesser” mortals are in crisis or seem to have been thrown out of the window.

To illustrate, on the democratic front, during campaigns, Trump told us that their political system was rigged and that he would only accept results if he won!

Indeed, after elections, his country’s intelligence services told the world that Russia had meddled in the elections in Trump’s favour. And while Hillary Clinton termed her opponent a “Russian puppet” in presidential debates, just the other day, columnist Charles M. Blow observed in The New York Times: “Donald Trump is Vladimir Putin’s “president”!

For the world, this is truly unprecedented. With the legitimacy of America’s leadership in question, that nation’s leaders can no longer, with a straight face tell anyone to behave without being ridiculed.

On values, Trump has trashed the media and promised to put in place laws that would punish the “lying” media! With this, you can’t expect his diplomats to defend press freedom without being reminded of their own behaviour at home.

And on morality, human rights and decency, Trump has gifted material to the world that will scare his diplomat away from commenting on these matters: From his mocking of a disabled reporter, to bragging about groping women to publicly defending the “size of his hand” to calls to kill families of terrorists to banning Muslims from entering his country to building a wall.

And since he campaigned on the ticket of “America First” and “Taking Back Our Country”, this suggests that even if he had projected moral integrity, his priority will be rebuilding his own country and cleansing it of “foreigners” rather than defending democratic values.

The consequence of all this is threefold: First, those who genuinely loath American intervention for its penchant to fuel conflicts will have the opportunity to observe a world with Uncle Sam in retreat and compare if its better.

Secondly, dictators will feel emboldened to do as they wish; a factor that’s likely to harden opposition to them and incubate violence.

Finally, considering that in poor countries that depend on aid the only check on the excesses of the state has been donors led by America and its western allies, whose own democracies are in crisis with rising populism and ultra-nationalism, we could say that democracy is now orphaned.

In the end, this democracy and human rights leaderless world is a threat to the current political and economic order.

Christopher Kayumba, PhD. Senior Lecturer, School of Journalism and Communication, UR; Lead consultant, MGC Consult International Ltd. E-mail: [email protected]; twitter account: @Ckayumba Website:www.mgcconsult.com